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Southern Cal Stuns No. 12 Stanford, 11-10

from Press Release

LOS ANGELES - Under the broad shoulders of the
historic Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, the USC women's lacrosse
team stunned 13th-ranked conference rival Stanford in an 11-10
victory on Easter Sunday, April 20, to snap a three-game losing
streak and finish with a 6-3 record in Mountain Pacific Sports
Federation games. The win, which was broadcast to a live national
audience on the Pac-12 Networks, is the Trojans' first-ever victory
over a ranked opponent.

The Women of Troy celebrated Ceilidh Meagher and their
first-ever senior graduating class in pre-game ceremonies. Meagher
started her final home game and collected a caused turnover and
ground ball.

After drawing even in the first half with nine shots apiece, the
Cardinal came out firing and out-shot the Trojans, 18-7, in the
second half but USC goalie Liz Shaeffer turned away eight shots
including six in the second half to preserve the win.

As they have much of the season, the Trojans leaned on their
freshman class. Attacker Annie Ruland shared game-high honors with
three goals on her four shots. Midfielder Alex Moore also scored a
hat trick with three goals and an assist. Two of Moore's goals came
on eight-meter shots. Fellow frosh midfielder Michaela Michael
scored a pair of goals and had a caused turnover.

Sophomore attacker Caroline de Lyra scored a pair of goals while
sophomore midfielder Amanda Johansen had two assists to go with a
goal and a game-high four draw controls. Defensively, Shaeffer led
all players with four ground balls. Sophomore defender Courtney
Tarleton had three caused turnovers and two ground balls.

For Stanford, three players scored two goals apiece including
Rachel Ozer, Alex Poplawski, and Lucy Dikeou. Ozer also had one of
three Cardinal assists. Mackenzie Tesei had three draw controls and
scored a goal while Kyle Fraser came off the bench to score a goal,
dish out an assist, pick up a ground ball, and cause a turnover.
The Cardinal's losing goalie of record was Lyndsey Munoz who played
35 minutes and gave up eight goals.

Freshman Gabby McMahon set the Trojans off as she controlled the
first draw of the game. USC's set offense got Johansen the open
shot she needed and she buried it in the back of the Stanford net
for a 1-0 lead at 28:12. Shaeffer broke up a Cardinal pass to start
the Trojans on the break before Moore got to the line for a
free-position shot and a goal for a 2-0 lead at 24:53. Stanford
answered with an eight-meter goal by Ozer to get on the board at
17:37.

A USC clear took the Trojans to the offensive end of the field
where de Lyra scored to get USC a 3-1 lead at 15:16 left in the
first half. Stanford countered with a goal by Tesei to cut the lead
to one at 3-2 before de Lyra scored again on another USC clear to
put the Trojans up, 4-2, at 11:45. Johansen's draw control put USC
on offense on the next possession but it was a Stanford foul and
yellow card on Hannah Farr that gave Moore the eight-meter attempt.
Instead of shooting, Moore dropped a pass in to Ruland who scored
for a 5-2 lead.

It took just 17 seconds for Stanford to reply as Poplawski went
down the field to score and pull the Cardinal within two at 5-3.
Stanford claimed the next draw, but Shaeffer leapt to break up a
pass and grabbed the ground ball to send the Trojans in the other
direction. Michael dodged her way to goal and scored to put USC up
by three goals, 6-3, at 5:32.

Stanford took advantage of a man-up opportunity to score with
just 2:15 left in the first half and then put a goal past Shaffer
from the eight-meter arc to get within one, 6-5, with 57 seconds
left to halftime. Moore grabbed the next draw and set USC up on
offense. A foul put Moore at the line with one second left on the
clock, but her shot and goal were waved off by the referees and the
Trojans headed to the break with a one-goal lead.

Stanford came out with a different mindset and carried the
momentum of its two straight goals to complete a 4-0 run with goals
by Poplawski and Ozer to get a 7-6 lead just two minutes into the
second half. A second yellow card on Farr disqualified her from the
game at 26:16. Up a player on offense, McMahon found Ruland on the
left side of the net for the shot and goal to bring the Trojans
back into a tie at seven-all with 25:53 left on the clock.

The Trojans grabbed the next draw and raced down the field to go
up by one goal at 25:02 when Michael scored again. Shaffer saved a
pair of free-position shots to keep the Trojans up for the next
eight minutes before Dikeou scored on an assist by Ozer at 17:53 to
bring the Cardinal an eight-all tie. The Trojans needed just 40
seconds to go up again as Moore scored her second free-position
goal at 17:13 for a 9-8 USC lead.

The goals came fast as Stanford answered just 45 seconds later
to equalize the score at nine-all as Dikeou's draw control turned
into a Dikeou goal at 16:27 left in the game. Despite winning the
next draw, the Trojans couldn't score as the Cardinal cleared the
ball and went down the field. Shaeffer stopped another
free-position shot but Fraser came up with a goal at 13:53
remaining to give the Cardinal a 10-9 lead.

Johansen came up with the next draw and went to work. The
Trojans stalled on offense but came out of a timeout with a plan.
Johansen hit an open Ruland for the assist and pulled USC even at
10-all. Freshman Kate Pederson came in and grabbed her second draw
control of the game to put the Trojans on offense. Johansen ran the
same play and hit an open Moore for the shot and goal to put USC
up, 11-10, with 11:18 left to play.

Stanford had its chances but a stout Trojan defense and a pair
of big saves from Shaffer including a huge save with 59 seconds
left in the game preserved USC's one-goal lead and gave the Women
of Troy the upset victory.